The Alliance for Restoration of Sudanese Workers Trade Unions Joins the Declaration of Freedom and Change
For immediate release
10 th March 2019
The Alliance for Restoration of Sudanese Workers Trade Unions announced on Sunday 10th March that it was joining the revolutionary forces seeking an end to Omer al-Bashir’s regime. The Alliance said it had signed the Declaration of Freedom and Change and called on all disbanded workers trade unions to remobilize their ranks and join the civic forces struggle for the restoration of democracy and dignity.
In a statement released today, the Alliance appealed to all workers across the country to reunite under their legitimate trade unions that had been disbanded by the regime in a bid to neutralize the trade unionist movement.
The Alliance praised the heroic uprising of the Sudanese people against the corrupt and bloody Islamist regime. It held al-Bashir’s regime accountable for the collapse of the pillars of the national economy, including the Gezira Scheme and the manufacturing industry. “Thousands of workers lost their jobs as a result of privatization of public sector organizations including the Railways, Sudan Shipping Line, Sudan Airways, and others,” it said.
The statement noted that living conditions deteriorated to unprecedented levels, with prices of basic needs rocketing high while wages remained unchanged. “Today, an average monthly wage can hardly sustain a family of three for more than two days,” it said.
The Alliance pointed out that some of the very basic rights of workers had been curtailed under al-Bashir’s dictatorship, including sick leave, annual leave, part-time pay, nursing hours, and maternity leave.
“Trade unions were outlawed and puppet bodies were created to muffle any possible dissent. Trade union activists were detained, many of them tortured to death in the infamous ghost houses,’ the statement added.
The Alliance decried the grave atrocities perpetrated by the regime, including genocide in Darfur and Blue Nile, and the civil war, which resulted in the secession of the south.
The Alliance voiced solidarity with the terminal workers in Port Sudan in their solid stance against the takeover of the southern terminal by a foreign company. It called on workers in all cities, towns, and villages to set up their own trade unions that can protect their rights and safeguard their interests.